


nothing left to polarize

by sabinelagrande



Series: Desperation Song [6]
Category: X-Men: First Class (2011) - Fandom
Genre: F/M, Kidfic, Post-Canon, happy for now
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-12-29
Updated: 2011-12-29
Packaged: 2017-10-28 10:01:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,473
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/306697
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sabinelagrande/pseuds/sabinelagrande
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's not the end, but it'll do for now.</p>
            </blockquote>





	nothing left to polarize

Mystique is crouched on the hill across from the entrance to the compound, scanning for movement. For a time, she was wearing the image of one of the guards, but the cat is out of the bag on that one; they're all stacked in a heap at the bottom of the guard tower anyway, so it's not as if it matters, for the moment.

Kurt is perched next to her, looking in the other direction. "Can I turn around yet?" he asks.

She sheathes her swords before answering; it was one thing to let him jump around the trees looking for snipers, but he certainly didn't need to watch as she finished the guards off. "It's okay for now. Just stay low."

He wiggles around, flopping down onto his stomach next to her. It's almost half an hour before anything happens, more than long enough for Kurt to start squirming. The doors open suddenly, and she puts a hand on his back, keeping him down; he goes very still, biting his lip, his tail pressed flat into the grass.

Magneto strides out as usual, holding up his hands the way he does when he's trying to be impressive or expecting gunfire, but Mastermind looks like hell; Emma is supporting him, but they look more like they're just barely keeping each other upright.

Mystique can feel the twitch in the back in her mind that means Emma is scanning her, scanning the whole area. "If there's no danger, stand up," Emma says in her head, and she sounds weary.

Mystique pats Kurt on the shoulder before pushing herself up. "You can get up now," she tells him, and before she's finished saying it, he's running off into his father's arms. She walks over, taking her time about it, still looking for possible threats.

Mastermind puts a hand over his face, groaning. "I just realized something."

Emma looks at him. "What?"

"Astra was our ride home."

Thankfully, there's a jeep in the back of the compound; it's less than ideal, but, after they've dismantled three traps and defused the bomb attached the engine, Mystique climbs up into the driver's seat, doing her best impression of a generic hick.

"What the hell happened back there?" she asks, as they bounce down the country roads.

"Everything got a little," Magneto pauses, "out of hand."

She looks at him in the rear view, raising an eyebrow. "More than it was already?"

He reaches underneath his helmet so that he can rub at his temple. "I don't want to talk about it right now."

"He had an I-beam sticking out of his chest, and he was bleeding everywhere, and I'm pretty sure I saw something that looked like internal organs," Mastermind provided. "And then suddenly the I-beam was there, and the Azazel wasn't."

Mystique presses the palm of her hand to her forehead. "Jesus Christ."

"Yeah," he says, sliding down in his seat and shutting his eyes. "That's what I said."

"What about Astra?" she says coldly.

Magneto's face goes hard. "Astra has been dealt with."

"Good," she says grimly.

The ride back to the compound is mostly silent, after that. When they arrive, Mastermind staggers off to recover, while Emma makes a pot of tea and tries to hide how much she needs to. Kurt and the twins are put to bed, and suddenly it's just Mystique and Magneto, alone in his study.

He takes his helmet off, setting it down on the desk, running a hand through his hair. "That was unnecessary," he says, and Mystique snorts. "All that way for a failed kidnapping and an ominous threat." He snorts. "God only knows how many more times we'll have to fool with Azazel before he gets bored."

She sighs. "I just can't figure out why Astra didn't go after the twins, too."

Magneto shakes his head sadly. "They're so young, and their mother-" He looks stricken for a moment. "We lost her. If Astra did it right, they'd never know another mother but her."

She crosses her arms. "How'd you catch her?"

The corner of his mouth quirks upward. "Astra never really understood the depth or utility of telepathy," he says. "She always thought Emma's sole purpose was to sit around and look pretty- and to be honest, Emma was perfectly content with having her think that. She didn't know Emma could fight and keep her mind on everyone else at the same time."

Mystique sighs. "Hell of a mistake."

"She certainly paid for it," he says. "But Azazel-"

"The less said about Azazel, the better," she says. "Let's hope he's only got nine lives."

Silence settles over them.

"Should we talk about what we're thinking about," Mystique says, after a long while, "or should we keep ignoring it?"

He crosses his arms over his chest. "I woke up and you were gone," he says, without preamble.

Mystique shakes her head. "I was gone a long time before I left, Erik. You just hadn't noticed yet."

He purses his lips. "That doesn't change the fact that you left, heavily pregnant, in the middle of the night, with Azazel."

"He said things would be different, okay? He said-" She swallows. "I thought he could give me more than you did."

Magneto groans in disgust. "I gave you everything, you never wanted-"

"Love, Erik," she says, cutting him off. "I thought he loved me."

" _I_ loved you," he replies.

Her smile is sad. "You picked a funny way to show it."

He clears his throat. "And so you left."

"He knew a place, up in the mountains near the Latverian border. He said we'd be safe there. We were, for a while." She snorts. "Everyone wants to help the young widow who's just about to give birth alone. Azazel stayed out of sight, and everything was fine."

"Until you blew your cover."

"Not me," she says, smirking. "I went through sixteen hours of labor with no drugs and still kept my human suit on. Try that one some time." Her face falls again. "But Kurt- there was no hiding what Kurt was. By the time they took one look at him, there was no reason to hide anymore. And then Azazel showed up, and that only made it worse, and-" She rubs at her temples. "Things got really messy really fast."

"So you abandoned him," Magneto says, not trying at all to mask his contempt.

"I did what I had to do," she says wearily. "They killed Azazel- or so I thought- and they took Kurt. It was six weeks before I managed to recover enough to go back, and by then, the only thing anyone had to say was that he was gone. I looked _everywhere_ , Erik. Every freak show, every carnival, every traveling act. I didn't stop until I found out he was here, and then- well, you know the rest. I just don't know how you found him."

"Emma did," he says. "We briefly- very briefly-" he adds, remembering the explosion, "had our own copy of Cerebro here. One look and, well, it was sort of obvious who he was."

She smiles wanly. "It would be sort of hard to miss. I wish I could change everything, Erik," she says gravely. "Every _day_ I wish that."

He doesn't know how to respond. "Have you told Kurt that you're-"

She shakes her head. "Astra said something, but I haven't told him. If I'm not staying, then he doesn't need to go through that."

"Is that what you want?" he asks.

She stares at him, her gaze piercing. "What I want and what I've got haven't been the same thing for a long time."

Magneto clears his throat. "You should stay tonight," he says. "It's late and, Kurt- Kurt will want to say goodbye."

"Is that all?" she says, stepping forward, laying a hand on the side of his face.

He closes his eyes. "Don't tempt me."

She laughs softly. "I didn't know I still knew how to do that."

"Papa?"

Mystique lets her hand fall away from his face. "Come in, Kurt," Magneto tells him, and he runs to his father's side, clinging to his leg.

"It's late," she says. "I should say goodbye."

"If that's what you want," Magneto says.

Kurt looks up at his father. "But I don't want her to go."

Magneto can see her heart breaking, and despite all the bad blood, despite everything that's passed between them, there's nothing he wants to do more than stop it. "She's not going," he says firmly. "Are you, Raven?"

She sighs, but a weary smile comes over her face. "Not tonight."

Kurt's face lights up. "Can I show her my room?"

Magneto tousles his hair. "Of course."

Kurt takes her hand, dragging her away; she looks back at Magneto over her shoulder, and he smiles.


End file.
